HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care among Especially Vulnerable Young People

A collaboration between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the DFID-funded Safe Passages to Adulthood programme, this report focuses on the needs of especially vulnerable youth, including migrants and refugees, sex workers, and injecting drug users. This report identifies some of the priority issues facing such groups, suggests a focus on three areas for action - risk reduction, vulnerability reduction and impact mitigation, and provides guidance on key elements for the development of what the authors consider to be "effective" programmes.

The report points to five principles, in particular, that the authors suggest should be central to future work at a national or local level.

1. it is necessary to place the young person and her or his needs and experiences at the centre of the work;
2. steps must be taken to ensure meaningful participation in programme and project design and development;
3. the most successful approaches are those that work with a commitment to protecting and promoting the rights of young people;
4. a clear gender focus must be present if the needs and interests of young women and young men are to be respected; and
5. it is necessary to work to tackle both societal vulnerability and individual risk in prevention efforts. One approach on its own is simply not enough.